Hybrid electric vehicles - Year 2000

Abstract

By the year 2000, the automotive manufacturers turned their attention to Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV). This re-direction of Electric Vehicle (EV) development effort was highlighted at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS 2000), where, the World's major automobile manufacturers displayed twenty three hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Thirteen HEV were configured with an internal combustion piston engine and electric traction motor, while, ten additional HEV were configured as fuel cell and battery pack hybrid vehicles (FCHV). Furthermore, the FCEV were fueled with hydrogen (H2) from H2 absorption metal hydride fuel tanks, or, from liquified hydrogen (LH2) cryogenic fuel tanks. One conclusion for HEV was that the preferred configuration includes a compression ignition (CI) engine paired with an electric motor, and, four speed manual transmission with automatic shift. A second conclusion for FCHV was that the fuel of choice is H2, and furthermore, these H2 fueled FCEV were the precursor vehicles foreshadowing deployment of a hydrogen fuel infrastructure within the first quarter of the 21st Century